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Drunkenness most “unacceptable” in-flight behaviour: YouGov survey
Summary
- Around 61% of urban Indians find drunkenness “somewhat” and “completely” unacceptable in flights, with no other form of misconduct listed in the YouGov survey seen as negatively as drunkenness
In another addition to the growing list of instances of unruly behaviour by passengers mid-air, a senior Air India official was slapped and abused by a passenger on a Sydney-New Delhi flight last week. From ‘pee-gate’ under the influence of alcohol, to physical abuse, incidents of unruly behaviour on Indian skies have evoked a sense of disgust and embarrassment among the masses. A recent YouGov survey shows that among all unacceptable in-flight behaviour, drunkenness tops the list for urban Indians.
Around 61% of urban Indians find drunkenness “somewhat" and “completely" unacceptable in flights, the survey found. No other form of misconduct listed in the survey was seen as negatively as drunkenness. Globally as well, drunkenness on flights was seen as the most reprehensible among the given options, with 75% voting against it.
The online survey was conducted among adults across 18 countries in February 2023. The sample size in India was 1,006, while the global sample was 19,678.
Women (68%) were more likely to vote against drunken behaviour than men (55%). After drunkenness, passengers not using headphones annoy urban Indians the most, with 43% finding it completely or somewhat unacceptable. Two in five urban Indians also find removing their footwear (40%), or public display of affection (39%) objectionable.
Globally, apart from unacceptance of drunkenness, other forms of off-putting behaviour in the top five for respondents are personal grooming in public and passengers reclining their seats fully. Passengers globally were more open compared to Indians about public display of affection (PDA) in airlines, with just over a fourth of respondents (28%) finding any problem with it.
On the other hand, urban Indians are quite tolerant of crying infants in-flight with this behaviour being the cause of least annoyance – with 19% respondents voting against it. Indians also seem okay with having a chatty co-passenger, with 40% respondents finding this “acceptable".
Several instances of unruly behaviour have come in the spotlight over the past year, including due to inebriation, brawls between passengers and misbehaviour towards airline crew. The most prominent case was that of a 72-year old woman being urinated upon by an inebriated Shankar Mishra last November, in a New York-Delhi Air India flight. A total of 63 passengers were placed in the “no fly list" in the past year alone for unruly behaviour, according to a February 2023 reply given by the ministry of civil aviation in the Rajya Sabha.
The aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has issued an advisory to airlines listing out the way to deal with unruly passengers. Globally, this menace has seen an uptick too. One unruly passenger incident was reported for every 568 flights last year compared to one such incident per 835 flights in 2021, according to international airlines' grouping IATA. “Non-compliance, verbal abuse and intoxication, were the most categorisations of incidents," it said.
